At the time the lottery was first being introduced in Colorado, our friends who owned a local grocery store reported that their sales of milk dropped substantially, as people's money was diverted to the lottery tickets.

Then I realized the odds of winning the lottery are astronomically better if you play than if you don't.

Astronomical.

It is a 1/176,000,000 increase in chance to win if you buy a ticket. I would have gone with "miniscule" to describe that fraction.

Can't think of much I would change in my life for a 0.00000000568 increase of anything happening.

Yeah any increase from zero takes it from impossible to possible, but if I'm going to fish any money out of my wallet to throw out of my budget forever, I'll donate it instead. Pretty penny raked in during this lottery that suggests a lot of unneeded money we Americans have that could done untold good in the hands of an effective charity.

At the time the lottery was first being introduced in Colorado, our friends who owned a local grocery store reported that their sales of milk dropped substantially, as people's money was diverted to the lottery tickets.